Garden Railway Forum

Right, the DVLR has offered to overhaul the soul loco of my friend's MBLR, an MSS kit loco. When first built the loco would not run so I spent ages smoothening all the mating surfaces. These were machined appalingly. I am digusted with the shoddy quality of engineering, it is enough to put any beguinner off garden railways for life. Anyway after spending hours cleaning the cylinders and reversing block up my friend promptley snapped the spring bolt off in the cylinder. I have just got from pps steam new o ring cylinders. But these had to come with an oiler so that arrived today too. That had to come with a regulator so that also arrived. Another sneaky expense througn in were the reguageing blocks for 45mm gauge. Why is there no clear sign on the pps web site that that is what has to be perchased just for the cylinders. What should have cost about 36 pounds cost over double the aoriginal price. These have come with no instructions so any advise on assembly will be appreciated. Thank you.

Mr. Bond of the DVLR wrote:These were machined appalingly. I am digusted with the shoddy quality of engineering, it is enough to put any beguinner off garden railways for life..

Careful there, it upsets people (we have to be mamodically correct here you know - can't discriminate against the mamodinority )

MSS are worse than mamod so you can bad them as much as you want

pauly wrote:MSS are worse than mamod so you can bad them as much as you want  :lol:

Exactly what I was going to say!

Before I took to modifying 'Victor', as a standard MSS he ran brilliantly.

I hasten to add that modification was through choice, not neccessity!

ok so first thing's first, The regulator, there is a take off above it presumably for the new saftey valve (which has not been purchased), what do I put in here to 'plug' this hole??

Well, you put the uprated SV in, but if you want to test it without and use the standard one, cut a bolt (of the same thread of course) so its as short as the tread on the SV, and put an O ring on

so once again more money has to be spent. AHHHG!

Mr. Bond of the DVLR wrote:so once again more money has to be spent. AHHHG!

Or you ask me nicely

eh???

you should have dealt with dream steam in my opinion he is very helpful and does all the upgrade parts at a reasonable price

PPS is cheaper
Also dream steam only did bits for 32mm
I realised that the regauging blocks were not needed as they were already on the old cylinders. Yet more money wasted. I was told they were needed to be bought. Damn it!

Mr. Bond of the DVLR wrote:PPS is cheaper
Also dream steam only did bits for 32mm
I realised that the regauging blocks were not needed as they were already on the old cylinders. Yet more money wasted. I was told they were needed to be bought. Damn it!

How? The regauging blocks are slightly wider so it brings the cylinders out further. Dream Steam also do, do the 45mm stuff.

Alan at PPS will help you with what you need if you ask him, he has been helpful to me in the past.

You would need a lubricator for the O ring pistons, the loco will not operate well, if at all, without one, as the oil not only lubricates, but gives some sealing proerties. Avoid the deadleg ones, not worth it. If you note even Jane/Janet have an inline one. Roundhouse ones will work.

For 45mm gauge, Alan sells a cylinder that does away with re-gauging blocks or (in the old days) stacked gaskets. I had thought that IP/Dream Steam had offered them also, but I do not see them listed. The IP/Dream Steam cylinders are nice.

As far as instructions, this is basic stuff, but you might want to scan over the Mamodification book that has been saved as a PDF file in the files of the 16mm Yahoo group. There are some good tips there.

i know all of the above. I have already complained that if the cylindered were needed one would need an oiler. Which 'had' to come with a regulator- all of which are extra expenses and rather annoying! I am not ingnorant to the workings and needs of a steam engine considereing I own 3 and am over hauling one for a friend.

Mr. Bond of the DVLR wrote:i know all of the above. I have already complained that if the cylindered were needed one would need an oiler. Which 'had' to come with a regulator- all of which are extra expenses and rather annoying! I am not ingnorant to the workings and needs of a steam engine considereing I own 3 and am over hauling one for a friend.  :?

Ah, but it will be a much more controlable loco with the regulator than just the reverser block. I understand the increased costs, but then there is the increased functionality of the loco. Well worth the costs IMO.

I am confused, if you know the workings of these things, then why ask about instructions? There is a lot more info to be had now then when I started around 1985.

Because I wanted to know what to do about the two places that wern't blancked off- under the steam dome and above the regulator manifold. After a call to dream steam the two plugs are on their way! Dream Steam are a really friendly company. They charge slightly more than pps but there customer servises are execllent and if there is a problem they will fix it at the price of 1 way postage! PPS on the other hand should be avoided. I have just been called incompetant for not wet and drying the cylinder faces when the loco was first bought in a kit. Having never built, run or had any experience with a mamod before how was I supposed to know If it was not mentioned in the kit. I am not going to buy anymore products from PPS steam ever again ever. For the beguinner this would all be so off putting!

I whole heartedly agree with you there, the last time I dealt with PPS, they were extremely rude and ignorant, very unhelpful. Hence why I have not dealt with them since.

Right, so having been to dream steam he fixed a load of leaks but couldn't fix the cylinders as they weren't his so the loco went back to PPS who did finally get the loco to actually work (hooray) he sent it back to me and this is what I unpacked:




Yes it was very bad quality polystyrene which had crumbles and stuck EVERYWHERE! total strip down is needed...
Also one of the buffers is missing. WHY MUST THERE BE SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH A "trusted" FIRM!?!?!?!?!?

hmmmm

light it up, !
i wouldnt say a total strip down is needed. a wipe over, a bit of fire. if you can get your hands on an air line, blow it off. we have air lines at gmes, maybe you have them at imes???